AI image generation tech can now create life-wrecking deepfakes with ease

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https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2022/12/thanks-to-ai-its-probably-time-to-take-your-photos-off-the-internet/

AI image generation tech can now create life-wrecking deepfakes with ease

AI tech makes it trivial to generate harmful fake photos from a few social media pictures.

BENJ EDWARDS - 12/9/2022, 2:10 PM

Advances in AI generated imagery allow anyone with a few photos of you to place you in almost any situation.

Enlarge / This is John. He doesn't exist. But AI can easily put a photo of him in any situation we want. And the same process can apply to real people with just a few real photos pulled from social media.
Benj Edwards / Ars Technica

If you're one of the billions of people who have posted pictures of themselves on social media over the past decade, it may be time to rethink that behavior. New AI image-generation technology allows anyone to save a handful of photos (or video frames) of you, then train AI to create realistic fake photos that show you doing embarrassing or illegal things. Not everyone may be at risk, but everyone should know about it.

Photographs have always been subject to falsifications—first in darkrooms with scissors and paste and then via Adobe Photoshop through pixels. But it took a great deal of skill to pull off convincingly. Today, creating convincing photorealistic fakes has become almost trivial.

John: A social media case study
When we started writing this article, we asked a brave volunteer if we could use their social media images to attempt to train an AI model to create fakes. They agreed, but the results were too convincing, and the reputational risk proved too great. So instead, we used AI to create a set of seven simulated social media photos of a fictitious person we'll call "John." That way, we can safely show you the results. For now, let's pretend John is a real guy. The outcome is exactly the same, as you'll see below.

[...]

[Bernardo de La Paz]

1. Important article to see & read. Coming down the road right at ya. . . . nt

[OldBaldy1701E]

2. Yet another reason why I will not get into that piranha pool.

Because I work in A/V, I am in enough danger from this as it is. However, I am a nobody and therefore not worth the trouble. For now.

[eppur_se_muova]

3. Saw this coming from a long way back ... helps to be a SF reader.

William Gibson wrote a story in which deepfake blackmail was used to influence a political candidate -- in one of his firsts books, back in the 80s. But I've been waiting for this to come ever since seeing the first realistic ray-tracing pictures even before then.

Technological progress is great, as long as you don't anticipate the downside.

[NJCher]

4. Well, that saved me some work...

The work of taking pics off the internet. I don’t let anyone take my pic so there aren’t any.

Why, one might ask. Because I was in the first class of wemasters certified at njit. Also did
Photoshop, illustrator, Flash. I could see where this was going.

I knew this day would arrive, and here we are.

You might think no one will bother with me, but you just never know. I’m not giving.them the chance. As an educator, this could be problematic if some kid decides he doesn’t like the grade received.

[NJCher]

5. Hah

Didn’t see posts 2 and 3 above when I wrote mine.

It is a “protect yourself “ society.